The present invention relates generally to holders for rods or poles such as fishing poles and umbrellas, especially to rod holders which are supported in the ground by a ground penetrating stake.
Fishing pole holders supported in the ground by a ground penetrating member are well known in the art. They generally include a tube for inserting a fishing pole or rod into one end and have a spike sticking out the other end for jabbing into the ground. Once the fishing pole holder spike has been driven into the ground, the fishing rod handle can be inserted into the hollow tube for supporting the fishing rod while fishing on the beach or river bank or the like.
There have been a number of prior art patents directed towards fishing rod holders and these include the Genardo U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,017 for a fishing rod holder apparatus which allows a stake to be driven into the ground for holding a fishing rod holder and the Dees U.S. Pat. No. 1,577,612 for a fishing pole holder which drives a stake mounted on the end of a hollow tube into the ground so that a fishing pole can be inserted into the hollow tube. The Manning U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,937 and the Yeomans U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,057 and the Calway U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,358 show other fishing rod holders having tubes or spikes mounted thereto for driving a spike into the ground and which supports the hollow tube which supports the fishing rod or fishing pole.
It has also been known in the past to have ground imbedded rods or posts in which a stake is driven into the ground with a sliding hammer which slides a hammer against a stake to hammer the stake into the ground. In the Iannone U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,551 a rod driver is illustrated having a bore therethrough with a driver head for driving a separate rod into the ground. The Hecock et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,409 is an electrical grounding rod driving device using a slide hammer as is the Dahl U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,849 for an apparatus useful in driving electrical grounding rods. The Matson U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,763 is a removable ground penetrating stake which includes a slide hammer arrangement driving the stake into the ground. The Amicangelo U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,031 is also a rod driving and extracting tool and method.
The present invention is more specifically directed towards a rod holder for holding a fishing pole, fishing rod or umbrella or the like in which the rod or pole is inserted into an open ended tube and supported thereby but which simplies the attaching of the stake into the ground by the use of a sliding hammer built into the rod holder and which improves on the simplicity of manufacturing the device as well as in the use of the fishing rod holder.